Countries of the Congo basin have unanimously agreed to ban the exportation of unprocessed timber from January 1, 2020.

The decision was taken during a meeting of Ministers in charge of Forest, Industry and Environment of Central African countries including Cameroon which held via video conferencing on September 18.

According to the presentation memorandum, this ban will encourage at least the first industrial processing of wood on site.

This will increase the production of derivatives of this resource in the world market, which represents only 6% of world production of tropical sawn timber, 7% of world production of tropical veneer, 1% of world production of tropical plywood and most importantly the absence of secondary and tertiary processing.

Apart from the above, the restriction on the exportation of unprocessed timber will according to the Ministers create employment, help in strengthening the local industrial fabric through the acquisition of machinery and increase the budgetary resources of the States of the Congo basin.

According to Djogo Toumouksala, Director of the Promotion and Transformation of Forest Products at the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, this decision is just a step toward the adoption of the ban.

While meeting in their council of Ministers of the Union of Central African States, Ministers of Finance and Economy of the sub region will have to adopt this restriction before forwarding it to Head of States for onward validation.